A tsunami is usually defined as a natural disaster. By contrast, the tsunami of tributes and messages of condolence that has engulfed the world of financial services this week, in response to the passing of Mike Morrison on 6 November, is a natural expectation.

In the run-up to pension freedoms people seemed to be speaking about pensions in a different way. There was new excitement over the removal of the need to buy an annuity (even though this had been the case for some time already).

We are fast approaching at the second anniversary of the pension freedoms and the removal of the requirement to buy an annuity (officially that is – the real compulsion went several years before). In that two years the focus has been on the numbers – what has been cashed, how much tax has been generated, what product options are popular and very little on how the money has been spent.